Chapter 1255: Chapter 730: Charging Forward Like a Pig
At the gates of Refining Demon Mountain.
Xun Ziyou and another elder dressed in a maple-colored robe were sipping tea.
That elder took a sip of tea, then suddenly frowned and remarked in surprise, âRecently, the Cangmu Wolves in the mountain seem to have decreased significantly compared to when I was on duty beforeâŠâ
Xun Ziyou choked on his tea and coughed lightly.
The elder in the maple-colored robe gave Xun Ziyou a suspicious glance, âElder Xun, do you happen to know something?â
Xun Ziyouâs expression turned complicated, thinking to himself, how could I not knowâŠ
A âlittle senior brotherâ from our Taixu Sect, along with his group of junior disciples, has been specifically hunting the Cangmu Wolves in Refining Demon Mountain.
Custom formation arrays, specialized spiritual tools, standardized processes, unified strategiesâitâs like theyâve turned into Taoist SoldiersâŠ
How could any monster beast withstand that?
The Cangmu Wolves in Refining Demon Mountain mustâve been plagued with misfortune for eight lifetimes.
Xun Ziyou coughed again, vaguely murmuring, âI wouldnât know⊠Sect disciples hunting monstersâwhat they hunt is all the same, a little more, a little less, it doesnât really matter.â
âTrue enoughâŠâ the other elder muttered in thought.
Xun Ziyou glanced at him, silently poured him another cup of tea, and said softly:
âAs elders, our job is just to maintain order. There are so many disciples from various sectsâwe canât monitor them all. Let them play as they wish, as long as no major troubles ariseâŠâ
âBesides, with the situation in the Southern Wilderness intensifying, who knows when weâll have to traverse mountains and rivers, toiling away. How much longer can we enjoy leisure like this, sipping tea while watching the mountainsâŠâ
The elder in the maple-colored robe was stunned, then nodded in agreement, âElder Xun makes a valid point.â
With that, the two of them picked up their teacups and continued to drink leisurely.
But deep down, Xun Ziyou couldnât quite relax.
That troublesome Mo Hua better not push the Cangmu Wolves in Refining Demon Mountain to extinctionâŠ
Fortunately, it seemed Mo Hua got the message from Elder Xun and stopped exclusively targeting the Cangmu Wolves.
He decided to turn his attention to other monster beasts.
The Cangmu Wolves in the mountains, after all, only had limited numbers.
A team of five focusing on hunting Cangmu Wolves was still manageable.
But now, his âunderlingsââjunior brothers and sistersâhad grown in number, forming squad after squad, dressed in Yimu armor and armed with sharp Golden-series spiritual weapons, all going after the Cangmu Wolves.
The population of Cangmu Wolves began to noticeably decline.
With more cultivators hunting wolves and fewer wolves to hunt,
Some disciples would spend an entire day wandering the Refining Demon Mountain only to return empty-handed, wasting merit points on entrance fees.
To maintain the balance of the ecosystem and prevent the disciples from leaving empty-handed, Mo Hua personally took action, summarizing his experiences and creating another monster hunting âguide.â
This time, the guide targeted a type of monster called the Tianqing Snake.
The Tianqing Snake, being a Wood-series Snake Demon, was similar to the Cangmu Wolf in that it was a Wood-series monster, but it naturally carried venom.
The armor and spiritual weapons used to hunt Cangmu Wolves worked equally well on the Tianqing Snakes.
However, the Tianqing Snakes were more sinister, camouflaging themselves in bushes and blending into their surroundings. Their demonic power mixed with the aura of vegetation, making them harder to detect.
To address this, Mo Hua specially crafted a Wood Spirit Array Plate.
This array plate could identify the general composition of Wood-series spiritual power within a ten-zhang radius.
It could differentiate between natural vegetation aura, cultivator spiritual power, or Wood Poison demonic power.
Though not extremely precise, it was sufficient for locating monsters.
Aside from being inherently venomous, harder to detect, and more challenging to hunt, the Tianqing Snakes werenât particularly powerful.
Moreover, Tianqing Snakes had snake gall, which sold for a higher price and earned more merit points.
Before long, the Tianqing Snakes started sharing the burden previously borne by the Cangmu Wolves.
The Cangmu Wolves were no longer the only monster beasts being âtargetedâ by Taixu Sectâs âlittle senior brotherâ Mo Hua and his group of junior disciples.
After the Tianqing Snakes, Mo Hua devised hunting âguidesâ for several other types of monster beasts.
The scope of these guides expanded even further.
Beyond Wood-series monsters, they included Golden-series Golden-patterned Leopards, Earth-series Grey-spotted Pythons, Fire-series Crimson Flame Hyenas, and others.
These monster beasts all made it onto Mo Huaâs âmonster hunting guide list.â
In conjunction with these guides, Mo Hua also designed refinement array maps for customized spiritual tools, which he handed over to Master Gu for refinement and subsequent sale in the Gu Familyâs stores.
The quantity of these spiritual tools was astonishing.
The spiritual tools required for monster hunting already exceeded those used for bounties or apprehending Sin Cultivators.
Additionally, hunting monsters was far more efficient than bounty hunting.
After all, Sin Cultivators roamed far and wide, making them difficult to track, while monsters mostly stayed within Refining Demon Mountain and could be found easily upon entering the mountain.
Because of this, Master Guâs Gushan Refining Workshop had its furnaces burning around the clock, bustling with activity.
The customized spiritual toolsâ array diagrams had been standardized by Master Gu and passed on to his numerous apprentices.
If it had been just one or two pieces to customize, mass production wouldnât have been possible.
But now, with Mo Huaâs guides, the spiritual tools required for Taixu Sect disciples to hunt monsters had become standardized, reaching a certain scale of artifact refinement.
These customized spiritual tools could now be produced in bulk as needed.
Meanwhile, the store business flourished more than everâŠ
As for these developments, Mo Hua wasnât particularly concerned.
During his days off, he would still immerse himself in Refining Demon Mountain, though now he no longer needed to hunt personally.
He had crafted monster hunting guides and promoted them widely.
Over time, more and more Taixu Sect disciples would visit his assembly point, acknowledging him as âlittle senior brother,â receiving a guide, and heading to Refining Demon Mountain.
Of the over a thousand sect disciples, while most had called him âlittle senior brotherâ on the surface,
only a small minority truly regarded him as their senior brother at heart.
They were all Heavenâs Chosen Sonsânone would easily submit to another.
Some, gifted and proud, would only nod to Mo Hua in passing, never uttering the words âlittle senior brother.â